Reading
the patient package inserts (PPIs) is a key source of information
about medications for patients. They should be clear and understandable
to the general population. Objectives: The aims of this study were to obtain
base-line data on the extent of reading PPIs by consumers and
possible factors that might affect this; to explore the attitude
of the Palestinian public and healthcare professionals towards
the patient package inserts (PPIs); and to review a random sample
of PPIs for the availability of different information.Methods: The first part of the study was a cross-sectional
self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire for consumers
included 15 items. The questionnaire for healthcare professionals
included 10 items and it was very similar to that of consumers
with some modifications. In the second part, a random sample of
PPIs was reviewed. In our community pharmacies, where medications
are arranged according to their producing company, a researcher
was asked to choose randomly 10-15 medications for every company
to check for the availability of pharmacological, pharmaceutical
and clinical information. Results: A total of 304 healthcare professionals
out of 320 (95.0%) and 223 consumers out of 240 (92.9%) accepted
to answer the survey. Forty five percent consumers reported that
they always read the PPIs, and 29.3% said that they read the PPIs
most of the times. Increased rate of reading the leaflet was found
among females (P = 0.047). The preferred language for the PPIs
was Arabic for most of the consumers (89.6%) while it was English
for most of the healthcare professionals (80.8%). 35.9% of the
consumers and 43.6% of the healthcare professionals found the
font size suitable. 42.3% of the consumers and 25.5% of the healthcare
professionals said that they found the information in the PPIs
useful and enough. The PPIs of 135 randomly sampled medications
were reviewed. Many important sections were not found in the PPIs'
sample. Conclusion: A high percentage of consumers read
the PPIs, but still this needs to be improved. People would appreciate
a more detailed and clear PPI. Pharmacists should advocate reading
the PPIs but they need to provide consumers with detailed counseling
to compensate for the missing information in some of the PPIs.
Authorities and manufacturers should implement appropriate measures
to regulate the quality and quantity of information in the PPIs.